District judge booked on graft charges in Telangana arrested

An additional district judge, who was booked in a disproportionate assets case by Telangana’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, was on Thursday arrested and sent to judicial remand.

XIV Additional District Judge Vaidya Vara Prasad of Ranga Reddy district court was produced before an ACB Judge and remanded to judicial custody till November 28. He had been shifted to the Central Prison, Chanchalguda here, a top ACB official told PTI.

The High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh had received a complaint petition against the judge that he allegedly amassed huge assets and after due preliminary verification ordered the anti-corruption bureau to proceed against him.

Accordingly, a case under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the judge for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

As part of the investigation, ACB officials on Wednesday conducted searches at the residence of the judge and also at the houses of his relatives and associates at six other places in Hyderabad, three places in Siricilla district of Telangana and two in Maharashtra.

During the searches, several documents related to assets with a market value of about Rs 3 crore, huge expenditure and bank deposits were unearthed, ACB officials said.

ACB officials said the raids also showed that the judge along with his family members had made several foreign tours, incurring huge expenditure.

So far, during the searches documents related to three flats, bank balances and fixed deposits in various banks (worth Rs 38.16 lakh), two cars, household articles, and a two-wheeler had been unearthed, they added.